Rabliauskas ready to make ‘em laugh

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 1/4/2014 (983 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Rabliauskas is a prominent part of this year’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

The Winnipeg stand-up comedian, who split his childhood years between the North End and Poplar River First Nation, is performing on four festival shows from April 7 to 13.

PHOTO BY JARED STORY

North End stand-up comic Paul Rabliauskas is performing in four shows at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

PHOTO BY JARED STORY

Paul Rabliauskas

It’s the 29-year-old’s fourth year performing in the festival.

"Since the first year it’s always been my goal to try and improve and it’s a good sign when every year the importance of these shows gets bigger and bigger," said Rabliauskas.

Rabliauskas, who is also the host of The Rise Up Show on Streetz 104.7 FM, has been honing his high-energy brand of comedy for approximately seven years. While his act runs the gamut, much of his material is pulled from his North End and reserve experiences.

"I think a lot of people find my story unique, especially when I talk about my cousins and my aunties from up north. They really made me the person I am today," said Rabliauskas, the product of an Aboriginal mother and a Lithuanian father.

"I’m so comfortable telling these stories because I lived through them and I have nothing to hide and I’m not ashamed of my family whatsoever. I’m actually really proud of who I am and where I come from.

"Indians don’t live very long. I’m way too young to have this many dead aunties and uncles and I love doing jokes where I get to talk about them because it means they kind of live on. I love paying homage to them in the stories."

Rabliauskas said he’s also not afraid to make light of issues, even health problems like diabetes, which affect the Aboriginal population

"It’s not insulting. That’s (humour) a thing that’s ingrained in our culture, this ability we have to tease each other," Rabliauskas said.

"Don Burnstick (veteran Cree comedian) touches on this. When somebody falls, Native people instinctively laugh our heads off before we help, but we still help, we just finish laughing first."

Rabliauskas said Aboriginal audiences get that he’s just making light out of the dark, but the general population can be a bit more reserved, with that "I’m not supposed to laugh at this," look on their faces.

"I think anything can be funny if it’s funny," Rabliauskas said. "I love when you tell a really good fat joke. I really do. I’m sitting there like ‘I can’t even be mad at you right now, because that’s really clever man.’ It’s the same with my diabetes jokes."

"My mom got breast cancer and it was therapy for me to say ‘The doctor was more worried about me getting breast cancer than my sister.’

"People have these notions and hopefully it is our job as comics to influence people to lighten up and learn how to laugh and live a bit better."

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